The Lonely Pianist and the Broken Ghost Girl
by InMySoul
Summary: They lived in a small town where everybody knew everybody and their secrets. But they did not pry and they looked the other way. He was 8 when he first saw her. Alone in the spare bedroom with the window cracked to allow in the summer breeze, he played the piano that dominated the room. The sun was just starting to set, coloring the room a rich gold that matched his hair and eyes


**Helllooooo y'all! Sorry for not updating any of my stories but I'm starting my senior year of school and it's kicking my ass right now and I'm having issues with my depression lately and yada yada yada bullshit you always hear.**

**So here's an oneshot I've been working on! I might do a similar one if Malec and Sizzy if enough people like this!**

**Now I had a playlist while writing this so if you want you can listen to the songs that really influenced the fic **

**WARNINGS:**

**Allusions to Rape**

**Incest**

**Self-harm**

**Child-Abuse**

**Alcohol Abuse**

**Non-Graphic Sex**

**Allusions to Infant Death**

**The Piano by Nomy**

**Savior by Black Veil Brides**

**Loser by 3 Doors Down**

**Pieces by Sum41**

**Radio by He is We**

**Hold Me Now by Red**

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

They lived in a small town where everybody knew everybody and their secrets. But they did not pry and they looked the other way.

He was 8 when he first saw her. Alone in the spare bedroom with the window cracked to allow in the summer breeze, he played the piano that dominated the room. The sun was just starting to set, coloring the room a rich gold that matched his hair and eyes.

He wondered if his father would be home that night or would work at the office until the morning.

As he bent over the keys movement in the corner of his eye caused him to turn to the window.

Gold met green.

A small dirty face, pixie nose and emerald eyes beneath wild red curls peeked over the windowsill.

She gasped, knowing she was caught and before the boy could say anything she ran.

He rushed to the window, looking out, but could see nothing. She had vanished as if she were a ghost. For a moment the boy wondered if maybe she was just a spectre, or his imagination but quickly dismissed the idea. The girl had been as real as he was.

The boy's father came home every night the rest of the week. His father was back and the boy was happy for a time.

He did not play his piano and the girl did not appear.

However, as always, the boy's father drew inside himself again and came home less and less, paying no attention to his son.

So the boy returned to the piano, wondering why his father did not love him.

And as he played, a few precious tears escaping his eyes, the Ghost Girl returned. Again, it took a moment for the boy to realize he had an audience, but once he had he swung his eyes to meet hers again.

However, unlike last time, the boy did not stare. He merely gave her a slight smile and went back to his music, speaking to her without words.

He played for hours and the girl listened from the window until the moon was high in the sky.

Eventually the boy closed the piano, running a hand lovingly over the polished wood, and turned to speak to the girl.

But like the last time, she was gone.

And so it became a ritual for them.

The boy would play and the girl would listen until exhaustion drove them to their beds. They did not speak a word to each other, forming a friendship over silent pain and loneliness, for the sensed a kindred spirit in each other.

The continued these voiceless meetings until the days grew shorter and the nights became bitterly cold.

But the boy still left the window open for his Ghost girl, ignoring the chilling wind because he knew that his music was all the girl had.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

It was the first snowfall of the year when the silence was finally broken.

The boy was playing, but could clearly hear her teeth chattering in the cold.

Without stopping and without looking up, so as not to startle her, he spoke.

"Come inside. It's warm in here and my dad isn't home."

He kept the bitterness from his voice.

There was silence and he was sure that he had scared the girl away again by breaking their sacred vow of silence.

But then he heard a scratch, a thud, and felt a cold form join him on the bench, pressing against him for warmth.

The boy smiled and started playing again, listening to her steady breathing beside him as their hearts beat in sync.

And when he was too tired to play anymore, and his Ghost Girl was yawning, he closed the piano again and sat there, unsure of what to do.

He licked his lips nervously "M'name's Jace" he mumbled.

He felt her jump and held his breath.

"I'm Clary," said the small person beside him.

The boy smiled again.

He was happy

The next night the girl joined him on the bench without hesitation.

Slowly, he got her to tell him her story, and he told his.

He was the Angel boy. The boy who should not be alive. To the doctors he was a miracle, and to his mother both a treasure and a curse. Halfway through her pregnancy she was diagnosed with cancer, the boy should have died inside her belly, her sickly body unable to sustain a second life. But he was born, perfect and healthy.

But it was too much for his mother and she passed a month later. They boys father could not look at his son without seeing the exact image of his beloved wife. He distanced himself, throwing himself into his job, leaving his mothers Angel lonely.

But his father was good to him. He taught the boy to play the piano because his mother had. He taught him the stars and their stories because Celine had loved them. So the father passed these on to his son. But the son was still Lonely.

She, however, was a mistake. A last ditch effort to save a broken marriage. Her father a cruel and violent man. Her mother a talented artist who lived with her head in the clouds. And an older brother who was the only one who cared for her.

But her mother took her brother and vanished into the night, leaving the girl to face the father's fury alone and unprotected. So he hurt her and he left her broken.

The lonely young pianist and the broken ghost girl were old souls, bruised and battered by the world. But they found solace in each other, drawn to one another by the invisible strings that tied their hearts together.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

He was 11 and she 10 when he finally understood what her father did to her at home. Understood that the bruises and scars and broken bones were wrong. And that the adults should help her.

Even if that meant losing his Ghost Girl.

And the boy was angry. Angrier than he had ever been before, the white-hot rage in his belly scared him, such a strong emotion far too much for such a young child.

He wanted to go to the police; to march to her father and hurt him like he hurt the girl, even if they both knew the boy stood no chance.

She begged him and pleaded with him and he, unable to bear her tears, agreed.

The boy promised not to tell. And he knew he could not break such a promise.

She had been betrayed far too many times in her short life and he would not be added to that list, no matter how much he hurt to see her living in pain and fear.

Maybe it was selfish of him, but if the boy lost the girl he would be alone again. And he would rather die than be unloved again.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

When he was 12, going into the 6th grade and she 11, going into 5th, the boys father began to come home again.

But he was not himself. Awkward and clumsy, the boy's father was drowning his sorrows in the bottle.

He never raised his hand against the boy, but he was still scared of the rages his father would fly into.

In one of the worst ones, the boy's father smashed his piano, oblivious to the screams and the begging.

When she came that night to listen to him play, the boy took her hand, leading the way from his ruined safe-haven. She followed him, trusting the boy like she had never trusted someone before.

Carrying a blanket and something for the girl to eat, they went to a field and lay down, watching the stars.

And this became their new ritual.

They would lay there side-by-side as the boy pointed out the constellations and told her their stories.

She listened intently; greedy for the kindness he treated her with.

It would be under the same stars and above the same blanket that they would later make love on.

That was also the year they both got high for the first time.

She had found her fathers stash of joints and brought them along with her when they met one night.

She enjoyed it more than him perhaps, but they both began smoking together.

Their emotions rattled by the drug, the girl would often cry, and sometimes the boy would too, and they held each other until the tears dried and the high faded.

They talked and laughed for hours, or sometimes they would just lay in silence as they had done at the start of their friendship.

And they both were happy.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

They were 14 and 13 when they first fought.

The boy saw the red lines upon her wrists and grew angry and yelled.

Truly, he was terrified for his friend's life.

She shouted back at him and the parted ways early that night.

They did not meet again for several weeks.

And besides awkward meetings in the school hallways, the saw nothing of each other.

But the boy grew lonely again and the girl started to fade and crumble.

So they returned to their meetings and forgave one another, falling asleep beneath the stars.

They argued often after that. About her wrists, about his love for the opposite sex, about her being a prude, and of him being a jerk.

And they would part ways again.

But only for a few days at a time, never going as long as they had the first fight.

They boy started playing the piano again, spending weekends at the school under the strict instruction of the music teacher.

The girl drew like her mother when she could, bringing the pictures to show the boy who was in awe of her talent.

And perhaps this was the first time that they wondered if maybe…

Just maybe…

They were in love.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

He was 16 and she 15 when they first kissed.

It had been her first, and his once of many. But it was the first one that stopped his heart and stole his breath.

They had been arguing again. About his breaking up with yet another girl.

"This isn't okay Jace!" She said, her brilliant eyes flashing green fire "You can't just play with girls like that!"

"Well just _maybe_ Clary, the one girl I want I can never have!" He had shouted back, running a hand through his curls in frustration.

"And what girl would turn down you?!" snorted the girl, crossing her arms.

"You"

There were several beats of silence that seemed to stretch on forever.

"What?" she finally whispered, her eyes going wide and mouth falling open in shock.

"You Clary" the boy said softly, turning to her "I'm scared that you would turn me down."

"B-but why would you c-care if I said no?" she asked breathlessly

The boy looked down "Because" he whispered, his voice echoing the lonely child he had once, and perhaps still was, been "because if you said o I don't know what I'd do"

_Because I love you_. Is what the boy truly wanted to say. But he was scared. Because if he said it aloud it would make it true.

The boy had seen how his father's love for his wife had destroyed him. So he was scared to love.

"B-but why me? I-I mean I'm ugly and all scarred and bruised up and my hair is a mess and I have the chest of an 11 year old" the girl rambled, as if trying to convince him that he was mistaken. For she was afraid to love the boy as well.

He put a hand on the girl's bruised cheek, stroking it gently with his thumb "I don't give a damn if you're scarred of bruised. So what if you think your hair and body are terrible? Because _I love_ it. Just as I love everything else about you.

Because you see the darkest corners of my heard and you bring it light. That's why you Clary" The boy whispered before leaning in, his heart hammering in fear, and kissed the girl.

The both of them felt something change in their hearts in that moment. Something coming back together with a crack.

The boy felt time stop.

The girl wondered f the world would be the same when she opened her eyes.

And they were very happy.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

It was a few months later, when they were both 16 that they first made love.

They were both scared; he of doing something wrong and she of not being enough.

But as their bodies moved together, their breaths mingling between soft kisses, gasps echoing in each other's ears, the world fell away from them.

They forgot the alcohol, the drugs, the razors, the bruises, tears, anger and the pain they had known in their short lives.

They knew only each other.

Later that night as they lay naked under the stars, the sweat drying on their skin, the boy once again told her his tales of the stars.

It was also the night they both said "I love you"

In the following months they would repeat that first night again and again, until one night, the girl didn't show.

She was not there the next day at school and the boy became scared.

But that night she was there. But the girl was different.

Quiet and subdued; scared.

Before the boy could ask what had happened she spoke,

"He said how much I looked like my mother. How I was as beautiful as her."

"He's going to rape me I think," She said dully, her voice dead.

The boy said nothing, for he had no words that could fix this.

So he held her as she cried, rocking his lovely broken girl in his arms.

When her sobs had faded and her tears gone they were silent a while, the boy pressing comforting kisses to the top of her head.

"I'm not angry with her anymore" She said suddenly.

"Who?"

"My mother. I'm not mad at her for leaving me anymore. She had a chance and she took it. And I don't blame her. Wherever she is, I just hope she's happy."

The boy nodded, although he was still furious at her mother for leaving the girl behind.

They curled in each other's arms, the boy telling joke to get the girl to laugh until the sun began to rise.

And although they were still happy, deep inside they felt a nameless terror. A sense that something was about to change.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

The boy was 18 and the girl 17 when the storm broke.

The boy had just graduated, ready to enter the world.

But in order to do so, the Pianist would have to leave behind the one he had built with his Broken Ghost.

He led her to their field, worn and faded blanket in hand, and sat her down.

He paused, collecting himself, before speaking

"Clary…I got a scholarship for music. For the full four years" He said slowly, looking at her.

The girl's eyes lit up in happiness for his success. She doubted her own father would pay for college, and she did not have the money to put herself through one, like the boy hadn't been able to. Until he received the scholarship that is.

"Oh Jace! That's wonderful!" She gasped, throwing her arms around the boy and squeezing tight.

The boy smiled faintly, hugging her gently before pilling away, his face serious once again "Clary….the college…It…It's in Germany"

The boy watched, feeling sick as the light faded from the girls eyes, her smile vanishing.

She looked down, seeming to shrink as she took a deep breath "Oh…." She swallowed "Oh….well… you should…be…excited then…"

The boy put his hand under her chin, lifting her to meet his gaze "Clary…"

"I-it's a once in a lifetime opportunity," The girl continued, the tears welling and spilling over her cheeks.

The boy felt his own eyes burn as he wiped them away, kissing her forehead softly "Clary, I won't go. You say the word and I'll stay here with you until the end" He said fiercely.

The girl was silent for a long time. She could not imagine not having him there to hold her and kiss her and love her anymore.

But this was not about her. He had been given an opportunity that he never could have afforded otherwise.

An opportunity to change his life.

"This is your dream Jace. You have to go" The girl said, her voice coming out strong as her heart fell to pieces.

"You are my dream," The boy said, reaching for her "My dream is to spend the rest of my days by your side."

A single glittering tear fell down the girl's cheek, which she wiped away quickly.

"Will you tell me one of the star legends again Jace?"

"Clary I-"

"Please Jace" she interrupted him, her voice shaking.

The boy was silent a moment before he accepted her need for distraction.

If she talked about it she would shatter.

And the girl did not want to shatter again.

He smiled faintly "Which one?"

''Castor and Pollux?"

The boy chuckled, pulling her into his lap "You've heard that one a million times! You probably know it better than I do," He said softly, kissing below her ear.

"Yes but it's my favorite!"

The boy shook his head "Alright fine" He said with a mock-resigned sigh "You know how the story starts already"

"I know but tell it anyways. It makes the story better" She girl protested with a smile

He shook his head again in amusement "Alright, alright. According to the legend there was once a queen of Sparta named Leda. Everyone knew of her beauty and songs were composed about it. Even the Gods found themselves attracted to the lovely woman.

Zeus, well-known for his love of human women, laid his eyes upon her and at once decided that he must have her."

The girl closed her eyes, lulled by his soft melodic voice.

"So, one night Zeus took on the form of a beautiful swan and descended from the heavens to lie with her for a single night. And eight months later Leda bore two eggs. One of the eggs contained Pollux, the divine son of Zeus."

"And his sister, Helen of Troy" The girl interrupted.

The boys eyes glittered "Yes, and Helen, but she is not part of this story.

The other egg opened to reveal the mortal children of Leda's husband, King Tyndareus. A girl named Clytemnesta and a boy. Castor.

But despite the fact that one child was divine and the other mortal, the two boys grew up as twins would.

They became inseparable, doing everything together and they loved each other very dearly. Many simply referred to them as the Dioscuri, a testament to their closeness"

"They both loved sports. Pollux was good at boxing and Castor was a skilled horseman," The girl added quickly and he laughed

"I thought I was telling the story''

She blushed, smiling "Right. Sorry"

"Anyways, the Dioscuri soon joined the hero Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. They became famous for their ability to calm even the roughest waves, a gift from their divine uncle, Poseidon, King of the Oceans, who had made them joint patrons of shipwrecked sailors, giving them power to send favorable winds wherever they wished.

And even to this day sailors regard the sight of the Dioscuri in the sky as an omen of good voyage.

But even the bond between the two brothers could not outrun everything…"

"Death" The girl whispered with a shiver.

The boy nodded, tightening his arms around her unconsciously "Yeah. Death. Castor was slain in battle and his soul sent to the underworld.

Pollux was heartbroken. He prayed to his father to take his life as well, for he could not bear to with without his cherished brother.

Instead, Zeus invited Pollux to join him and the rest of the gods on Mount Olympus.

But Pollux, to their shock, declined, saying 'I would not like to live forever while my beloved brother is dead.'

"Zeus was so moved by the twins love and devotion that the King God arranged for a way for them to be together again." The girl murmured, resting her head on the boys shoulder and allowing fresh tears to fall.

"They would divide their time between the heavens and the underworld, spending a day on Olympus and the rest in the realm of Hades.

In further recognition of their love, Zeus placed Pollux and Castor's images among the stars in the constellation the mortals called Gemini."

"So that they would never again….be separated" she finished for him as he trailed off, the truth of what they were deciding rending him voiceless for a while.

"Yes." He finally said, kissing the girls tears away "In honor of a love so strong that not even death itself could sever it in the end."

And the Pianist and Broken Ghost lay together for the rest of the night, watching the stars they both so loved.

And he told her, as the sun rose,

"No matter where we are. No matter how far apart we are, we are still under these same stars I've told you about. You will always be the Castor to my Pollux.

I will _always_ come back to you Clary."

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

He was 19 and She 17 when their last summer ended. They bid each other goodbye through tearful kisses and murmured words of comfort.

He promised to write, as the Girl had no phone or money, the Boys father being the one to handle the letters.

So they parted ways, the Boy heading into a new world, and the Girl going back to her now empty one.

And although Lonely, the Boy was happy, living his dream and learning things he had never imagined.

But the Girl grew dark, the cracks that had been fixed up reappearing again and worsening under the onslaught of wandering hands and violent lips.

However at night, when they lay all alone, their dreams turned to each other and they danced among the stars they so loved.

Together again, if only for a few hours.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

The Boy was 21 and the Girl 20 when he was finally able to return home. The letters had not been nearly enough and in the back of his mind the Boy knew that there were things being hidden from him. But in his joy and excitement he forgot this, brimming with eagerness to return to his Ghost Girl and tell her all he had seen.

How he had played for Lords and Ladies, and sold out concerts where women dripped diamonds and men oozed money. How the nights were filled with music and laughter and the days with the echo of him composing new pieces for his love.

But the Girl was not there at the airport, nor was she in the field when he went there.

In fact, it was not until the day before he once again had to leave that she finally revealed herself to him.

And the Girl was not the same as the one he had left behind.

Pale and skinny, she spoke to him faintly, her voice indifferent and empty. She shied away from the boys touch as she had never done before, and refused to meet his eyes.

Under his constant pressure and please however, she finally broke her silence, the anger coming out white hot and blistering.

She shouted and screamed, telling him of the hands that had finally claimed what she had long ago feared they would. About the nightly visits.

A dead child, begotten on incest and violence; miscarried because of the beatings upon the mothers body.

And the Boy fell to his knees in front of her.

And he cried, begging for her forgiveness.

But the Girl, with tears in her own eyes, backed away and spoke words that would leave him wandering around in a daze for weeks to come.

"Don't come near me again Jace. Don't you ever, _ever_, come near me again."

And then the Girl left, vanishing as quickly as she had appeared in his window so many years before.

Except this time, she was not a ghost. She was the Boys heart and soul.

And she was gone.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

He was 24 and She 23 and they were broken. They were shattered and their hearts dry husks blowing across an empty sky.

They no longer looked to the stars, betrayed by the stories that had fed them such hope.

His music became dark and tragic and he became world-renowned, bringing many who attended his performances to tears.

But although he shared his pain with the world, his burden did not lessen and he knew no warmth besides the burn of the alcohol that stole away his memories and the heated sweat of the nameless women that frequented his bed.

She withered away, her skin draped over her bones in a gross mockery of what a human body should be. Her skin decorated by delicate bracelets of scars that brought her relief.

There were two more miscarriages and as her body faded into death, her mind shattered. She forgot who she was often.

She forgot happiness and love and a gentle touch.

She forgot the boy with the golden hair and eyes that had told her of the stars.

And they both eagerly waited for the day death would come to claim them.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

He was 25 and She 24.

The Boy had become a Man. A Man with haunted eyes and magic fingers that turned the wails of the damned into music that sent shivers down the spines of his listeners. And despite masses of worshippers, the Pianist was lonely.

And she was no longer a Girl either, but rather a Woman who, despite a ravaged body, attracted the stares and the lust of many. What they did not know was that she was a shell with nothing inside. That every night after her father had finished with her she stared at her razor and wondered if she had the courage to cut deep enough.

The Woman, who had been breaking all her life, had finally shattered.

He returned home, although it could no longer truly be considered such. It was merely the place where he had grown up. Where he had loved and lost; where he was made and finally ruined.

Sometimes the Man wished none of it had ever happened.

That the Broken Girl with the mesmerizing eyes had never looked into his window that night.

But then he remembered how those green orbs would light up only for him and how his name sounded upon her lips. And he would feel horror for having such a thought.

Every night he would go to the field and look down upon the ground that had been packed hard by the two bodies that had spent so much time hiding there. And the Man would remember.

He would remember the tears and the laughter, the anger and the joy and the pleasure and the pain.

He would remember the girl who had left his life just as she had entered it. Without a whisper and without a trace.

His beautiful Broken Girl.

**OOOO-LINEBREAK-OOOO**

It was a warm summer night, perhaps about a month after the Man had gotten back, when he encountered the wraith that had been his love.

It was only in passing, a meeting of eyes and a flash of recognition. A gasp of horror from the Man the state of decay of the Woman.

Then she was gone, running from his desperate voice, pleading for her to stop, to face him.

But the Man was determined. He would find his love and he would raise her from the depths of hell into which she had fallen.

Into which he had let her fall.

So he did something he had sworn on his life he would never do.

The Pianist went to the Woman's house, banging on the faded door, hoping to god that her father would be there and hoping to god that he wasn't.

He prayed she would forgive him for breaking her trust.

When her father opened the door, his mouth forming words of irritation, his cruel eyes glinting, he was silenced by a fist; spraying blood across the door and he stumbled back, hand flying to his nose in shock.

The Pianist followed, flesh striking flesh again and again, releasing all the rage, the grief, and the pain that the Man had held inside him for so long.

Distant screams reached his ears, a voice begging him to stop.

And when he finally stepped back, glaring at the bleeding mess of a human being on the floor, he called the police; something he had yearned to do for years, but had never had the courage.

With an ambulance and a patrol car on their way, the Man turned to the Woman crying in the corner.

He walked over, his voice soft and slow. "Clary, Clary it's okay. It's me. It's Jace. I won't let him hurt you anymore"

The Broken Girl stared at the Pianist for a moment, uncomprehending before throwing herself at his, his warm strong arms wrapping around her and taking her away as a soft voice whispered in her ear, drowning out the sirens.

"It's Okay. It's Okay now. I'm here. I've got you baby"

And the Girl was no longer Broken

And the Pianist was no longer Lonely


End file.
